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American Morning
Discussion With Saeb Erakat
Aired January 06, 2003 - 08:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The Palestinian Authority is condemning the twin suicide attacks in Tel Aviv Sunday that killed 22 people and wounded more than 100 others. A militant group linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement took responsibility.
Meanwhile, Israel's foreign minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was with us a little bit earlier this morning. He said these Palestinian denials are simply not credible.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: Fatah is Arafat's own organization. We didn't claim responsibility for this ghoulish crime, they did. They're under him. He, in fact, is funding them. He's -- quite openly, by the way. And he is the one who's calling for a million suicide martyrs, a million shahedeen (ph). This is not an invention. You have it on your own tapes.
So, you know, whatever denials are brought forth, they're insufficient. And it's not a question of both sides, it's a question of saying something. It's a question of what the facts are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: Joining us now from Jericho, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat on the phone today.
Good morning, Mr. Erakat.
You heard what Mr. Netanyahu had to say, that this is all the Palestinian Authority's fault and Yasser Arafat's fault for not stopping Al Fatah.
SAEB ERAKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: Well, actually, I'm sick and tired of just continuing to repeat myself and to hear Netanyahu repeating himself while we cannot save a single Palestinian life or a single Israeli life. I think this is nonsense. I'm not going to waste my time in assigning blame or saying the broken record of Netanyahu and others.
I think we need help. I really would urge President Bush to have a direct intervention, to engage immediately by sending an envoy to the region immediately in order to get Palestinians and Israelis back to a meaningful peace process with security cooperation and other means. I don't think we can leave the situation slip outside our fingers like sand because if we keep doing what we're doing today, the only thing we have to expect tomorrow is how many Palestinians were killed and how many Israelis were killed and so on and so on and so on.
And that's unfair. That should not be acceptable. I think we should resort to wisdom, sanity, courage and that's why we need the help of President Bush and the quartet in order to help us in coming back to the...
ZAHN: I hear what you're saying, sir, but please come back to the very specific charge that Mr. Netanyahu made this morning, that Yasser Arafat has knowingly funded this group who he says was responsible for the deaths of 22 Israelis yesterday.
Are you denying that at all?
ERAKAT: Absolutely. President Arafat was the first to condemn the suicide attacks yesterday. And we condemned these suicide attacks with the strongest possible terms. We condemn any targeting of civilians, whether Israelis or Palestinians. Actually, Fatah group has issued two communiques condemning the attacks and denying any responsibility to these attacks from the highest body of the Fatah movement, Arafat's movement.
But it seems to me that Netanyahu's end game here is always to export fear and export blame and, you know, someone...
ZAHN: All right, but, sir, if the Al Fatah group or Al Aksa Brigades, an offshoot of that, is not responsible for this latest attack, who is?
ERAKAT: Well, so far there have been, you know, no sincere claim of responsibility. There was a claim of responsibility from a jihad movement and somebody who claimed from Al Aksa, Al Aksa Brigades. The Fatah movement has totally denied any involvement whatsoever in a statement sent to all over the world, including CNN, actually, by the Al Aksa Brigade and the Fatah movement. And this was circulated all over and in speeches and interviews. Fatah denies any involvement whatsoever in these attacks.
ZAHN: What do you think instigated the attacks yesterday?
ERAKAT: Well, I don't think that we should justify any attacks against civilians. But, Paula, I would like to remind you that in the last month of November and December, we have had 154 Palestinians killed. We have 3.3 million Palestinians being pushed towards a human catastrophe due to the closure and seizures. We have a continuation of the Israeli assassinations, attacks, settlement activities. And I don't see any military solution.
Our problem with the Israelis will not be solved through military solutions providing (AUDIO GAP)...
ZAHN: All right, unfortunately we just lost Mr. Erakat, as you could hear. That was not your TV set going crazy. There was obviously some interference on that line that we picked up and we apologize for that rather unusual sound that you heard throughout that interview.
But that was chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat joining us on the phone.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 6, 2003 - 08:14 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: The Palestinian Authority is condemning the twin suicide attacks in Tel Aviv Sunday that killed 22 people and wounded more than 100 others. A militant group linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement took responsibility.
Meanwhile, Israel's foreign minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was with us a little bit earlier this morning. He said these Palestinian denials are simply not credible.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: Fatah is Arafat's own organization. We didn't claim responsibility for this ghoulish crime, they did. They're under him. He, in fact, is funding them. He's -- quite openly, by the way. And he is the one who's calling for a million suicide martyrs, a million shahedeen (ph). This is not an invention. You have it on your own tapes.
So, you know, whatever denials are brought forth, they're insufficient. And it's not a question of both sides, it's a question of saying something. It's a question of what the facts are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: Joining us now from Jericho, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat on the phone today.
Good morning, Mr. Erakat.
You heard what Mr. Netanyahu had to say, that this is all the Palestinian Authority's fault and Yasser Arafat's fault for not stopping Al Fatah.
SAEB ERAKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: Well, actually, I'm sick and tired of just continuing to repeat myself and to hear Netanyahu repeating himself while we cannot save a single Palestinian life or a single Israeli life. I think this is nonsense. I'm not going to waste my time in assigning blame or saying the broken record of Netanyahu and others.
I think we need help. I really would urge President Bush to have a direct intervention, to engage immediately by sending an envoy to the region immediately in order to get Palestinians and Israelis back to a meaningful peace process with security cooperation and other means. I don't think we can leave the situation slip outside our fingers like sand because if we keep doing what we're doing today, the only thing we have to expect tomorrow is how many Palestinians were killed and how many Israelis were killed and so on and so on and so on.
And that's unfair. That should not be acceptable. I think we should resort to wisdom, sanity, courage and that's why we need the help of President Bush and the quartet in order to help us in coming back to the...
ZAHN: I hear what you're saying, sir, but please come back to the very specific charge that Mr. Netanyahu made this morning, that Yasser Arafat has knowingly funded this group who he says was responsible for the deaths of 22 Israelis yesterday.
Are you denying that at all?
ERAKAT: Absolutely. President Arafat was the first to condemn the suicide attacks yesterday. And we condemned these suicide attacks with the strongest possible terms. We condemn any targeting of civilians, whether Israelis or Palestinians. Actually, Fatah group has issued two communiques condemning the attacks and denying any responsibility to these attacks from the highest body of the Fatah movement, Arafat's movement.
But it seems to me that Netanyahu's end game here is always to export fear and export blame and, you know, someone...
ZAHN: All right, but, sir, if the Al Fatah group or Al Aksa Brigades, an offshoot of that, is not responsible for this latest attack, who is?
ERAKAT: Well, so far there have been, you know, no sincere claim of responsibility. There was a claim of responsibility from a jihad movement and somebody who claimed from Al Aksa, Al Aksa Brigades. The Fatah movement has totally denied any involvement whatsoever in a statement sent to all over the world, including CNN, actually, by the Al Aksa Brigade and the Fatah movement. And this was circulated all over and in speeches and interviews. Fatah denies any involvement whatsoever in these attacks.
ZAHN: What do you think instigated the attacks yesterday?
ERAKAT: Well, I don't think that we should justify any attacks against civilians. But, Paula, I would like to remind you that in the last month of November and December, we have had 154 Palestinians killed. We have 3.3 million Palestinians being pushed towards a human catastrophe due to the closure and seizures. We have a continuation of the Israeli assassinations, attacks, settlement activities. And I don't see any military solution.
Our problem with the Israelis will not be solved through military solutions providing (AUDIO GAP)...
ZAHN: All right, unfortunately we just lost Mr. Erakat, as you could hear. That was not your TV set going crazy. There was obviously some interference on that line that we picked up and we apologize for that rather unusual sound that you heard throughout that interview.
But that was chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat joining us on the phone.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
